Sophia Emilee is 7

 Sophia Emilee is 7 and it's awesome.  She's awesome! Sophia is still the sweet, caring tenderhearted child that she has always been with a little sassy thrown in.  Sophia is always on the look out for her sisters and is a real help.  Even doing some supervised babysitting when mommy needs to get stuff done.

 Sophia is very artistic and colors, draws and crafts almost everyday.  Crafting and drawing are her favorite activities. Sophia did a hop-hip/jazz class this year and is now enrolled in gymnastics.  She liked dance but really likes gymnastics.

 She is now in second grade and on her third year in Spanish emersion.  She likes school and does well at math and making friends. Whenever she has free time in class, she always finds the back of a paper to draw a picture on. Most all of her school work is completed with drawing on the back.

 We went camping this year and Sophia caught a fish and help gut it! She wants to be brave but doesn't always have the nerve to do it. Gutting the fish made her daddy really proud.  

 Sophia has been working on her reading a lot this school year and has really improve.  I love when she takes the time to read to her sisters.

 We love Sophia so much and she is always blessing our life's with her good heart and kind words. 

Adeline Elizabeth is 4

Adeline Elizabeth is 4 going on 14.  She has grown so much this year and become such a loving, caring and sneaky 4 year old.  Adeline had her 4 year old well check and she was 41.75" tall (85%) and 36.5 lbs (59%).  Still really tall for her age.  People often think that she is older then she is not just for her height, but how well she communicates.

Adeline is quiet the athlete.  We played her on an older soccer team this last year because she was running over the 3 year olds in her own age group.  She also did ballet and tap dancing this past year. She has enthusiasm for life and lives it at full force with all the drama she can muster. Drama is a pretty normal thing for her.  She can make a small cut seems like her arm has been torn off by a pack of wild beasts! It makes us crazy and laugh about it too.

Adeline is creative, makes up the best stories and says the funniest things.  One day she spent 5 minutes telling me about her BigFoot encounter while we were visiting Grandma and Grandpa Olson.  "I don't like people to know about it, but I saw him through the woods.  He had one foot and was hairy.  It was kind of dark and he was far away, but I am pretty sure it was BigFoot." 

Here are a few recent ones:

 "Mom, on Turkey Giving Day we don't have to go to the store. We can just cook our turkeys to give away!" (She was talking about our chickens.  I also love that she thinks Thanksgiving is Turkey Giving Day.  It probably should be.)

Addie starts randomly signing, "the mothership is coming today so we have to clean up and get ready to go."

This year Adeline has really become much more aware of other's needs and how to put them before her own.  She has been a big help with Penelope and loves to make you feel loved and beautiful. We love her more and more everyday. 

Penelope Elsa is 1

(Catch-up Post)

Penelope Elsa (Penelle) is one year old! Man we love this girl.  She is happy, active and sooo smart.  She can out climb any of our other kids. I hope she does not climb out of her crib, but I am sure it is coming soon.  At her one year well check she was 28 inches tall and 19 lbs.  That puts her in the 12th percentile and I love that she is so little and big at the same time.

Penelope eats anything that a big girl eats, but she is also good at telling us NO if she doesn't want it.  She has 4 teeth on top and two on the bottom as well as almost all her 1st set of molars.  She loves to say "cheese" when you hold up your phone to take a picture. She also says "Dada" anytime she see Mike, hears him on the phone or in the house or sees a picture of him on the computer. This girl loves her daddy.

Penelope loves to dance!  Anytime she hears music, she will stop whatever she is doing to bust out some moves.  She hasn't started walking yet and does not seem that eager.  Crawling and climbing are working just fine for her and that is what she likes. When we try and get her to walk, she will hold her feet up off the ground so we can't set her down.  Cute little stinker. We love you like crazy!

Penelope Elsa we can't end this post without mentioning the screaming.  It is so ear piercingly loud that it literally hurts our ears.  You do it when you are happy or mad or sad or any emotion really.  I am hoping this not so cute sound will be replaced with more talking sooner rather then later.